1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display device including a protection board to prevent damage of a display panel from external impact, and more particularly, to a flat panel display device, in which a display panel and a protection board are closely attached, and a space between the display panel and the protection board results in preventing distortion of an image displayed on the display panel, and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display devices are used as substitutes for cathode-ray tube display devices due to light weight and thin thickness. Such flat panel display devices include liquid crystal display (LCD) devices and organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices. Among them, an OLED display device emits light of a specific wavelength due to energy generated from an exciton, which is formed by recombination of an electron and a hole injected to an organic thin film including at least one emission layer through a cathode and an anode in the emission layer. Compared to an LCD device, an OLED display device has excellent brightness and a wide viewing angle, and does not need a backlight unit, thereby being formed in a very slim shape.
In order to prevent damage of a light emitting device such as an OLED including at least one emission layer or a display panel from external impact, in the flat panel display device, the display panel is accommodated in a bezel having one open side, and then a protection board is disposed at the open portion of the bezel or both the display panel and the protection board are accommodated in the bezel.
However, when a protection board is disposed on a display panel as mentioned above, the protection board is made of a transparent material such as glass and is attached to the display panel along their edges to prevent a decrease in brightness of an image displayed on the display panel. Thus, the display panel and the protection board are not sufficiently attached, and thus the image displayed on the display panel may be distorted due to an empty space between the display panel and the protection board and a difference in refractive index between an upper substrate of the display panel and the protection board.
Alternatively, when a black matrix and a protection board are disposed on a display panel, a surface step difference of the display panel or the protection board caused by the black matrix results in bubbles made when the adhesion of the display panel to the protection board, and thus an upper substrate of the display panel and the protection board may not be closely attached.